He lifts the Cadillac up onto 80 going west
pulls a cigarette from the breast pocket of his denim shirt
though as a practicing Muslim he does not smoke
but the road is an addiction the Koran does not forbid
and the jobs he’s quit and the books he’s read were kindling
so now the flames inside burn no color and no religion
just one man trying to escape his plight via the promise
here on the fading yet still fecund stones of home.